BENGALURU: Unbearable stench, vegetables and waste thrown on the road, and poor maintenance and upkeep have rendered the Madiwala market repulsive for those passing through and those staying nearby.
City Express visited the market and found the rotting mass of vegetables has made the entire road slippery. The area has seen an increase in number of accidents caused by skidding and collisions, so two-wheeler riders as well as motorists are afraid of travelling through the area.
While the locals say the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) should pull up its socks to establish a better garbage disposal system, the vendors there appear apathetic and indifferent towards these concerns. They say the roads are being cleaned by BBMP and that “there would be stench since it’s a market”.
“There is a bus stop and a school right next to the market. The students walk through the market every day. Bikers, unable control their vehicles on a slippery and crowded road, into people walking or waiting for buses,” says Waseem Memon, founder of NGO Drive Without Borders. “I pass by the market every day. About two days ago, I saw a man on his bike skid. He twisted his ankle. The vendors sell fruits and vegetables and throw the rotten ones on the road and they cause accidents.”
He says he sees bikes skidding almost every day. “When it rains, it gets worse. You’d see about five to six bikes skid in a day,” he says adding that there were even talks of shifting the market but nothing is been done.
Another resident, Sonia Dutta Gupta, says, “Even while you are on the bus and passing by the market, it smells really bad. Buying vegetables or fruits from here is out of the question. In the evenings, mosquito bites and flies, especially when it rains, make it even more difficult to wait for a bus at the bus stop. Sometimes due to traffic and may be due to stray animals, the bus gets delayed and the situation gets worse. I then decide to walk or take an auto."
On rainy days, the roads get waterlogged. Neha Naidu, a sales representative who boards the bus from Madiwala market every day, says, “The garbage starts floating on the road when it rains. They concretised this road but without proper drainage system. The vendors do not understand. They throw garbage on the road and the authorities do not do anything about it. As the vendors had spread to the road on Varamahalakshmi Day, there was a traffic jam and it took me 45 minutes to reach St John’s from here.”
Evenings aren’t pleasant for students of Krupanidhi College near the market either as they are forced to walk a kilometre along the markets with their noses covered to board buses back home. Chintana MG, a PU student, says, “We feel nauseous due to the stench. We don't have a choice but to walk to the bus stop next to the police station as many buses do not stop near the college.”
CE witnessed piles of garbage around, and on the road too. When asked about it, a vendor said, “These were thrown now, they will get cleared in the morning.” Another vendor says, “This is a market area, so the stench will be there."
Niranjan KM, BBMP ward executive engineer, said: “For the past one week, there’s been a lot of crowd because of the festival. So, we are finding it difficult to manage the garbage. We are clearing it every morning.”
Corporator Promises Action
Koramangala corporator M Chandrappa says, “I’ll ask them to clean it right away. As we clean, more garbage gets dumped.” He adds that the redevelopment work of the market is on. “88 shops are ready. We are building in the same location. The work is on and will be completed soon.”